For the second time after 2021, our Munich start-up LucyBalu held the Cat Model Contest. After the huge success last year, we had high hopes that many people would again want to apply with their indoor cats for the title of Cat Model 2022 — and our expectations were even exceeded!

The voting process

More than 1000 entries reached us. Cats in all shapes, colours and kinds were proposed as possible cover models. We were simply overwhelmed by the fantastic response. From these entries, our team made an initial shortlist. Just under 50 velvet paws made it through to the next round.

And then it was off — our Community Voting. The entire voting took place purely on Instagram and was partly covered in the media in advance. Several thousand people took part here. We were, once again, overwhelmed. The community chose its favourites and these 20 cats were recommended to our exclusively chosen four-person jury (in the picture from left to right: Elfie Langefeld, Flo @inkstaboy, Lucas Berullier, Sina @Sinascolocats.)

Each juror could choose two cats — one for our Live Shoot on 30 July in Munich, one for a Home Shoot.

So, after only two weeks, countless posts and many votes, we went from more than 1000 candidates to our eight finalists.

Animal welfare as the core idea

We did not forget our roots in animal welfare during this campaign either. For each vote cast a sum of money was set as a product value. In November 2022, our team visited Vienna animal shelter and fitted out two cat rooms there completely with cat furniture, accessories and toys from our collection. We are very glad that we can also improve the lives of cats in this way.

The final

But back to the contest! With 8 finalists, the time had finally come on Saturday, 30 July 2022!

While four cats each struck a PAWse within their own four walls, four more finalists came to us in Munich.
Both animal and human wellbeing were taken care of. We had exclusively prepared new products for our finalists, including our CHECK-IN cat bag as well as HOP-ON cat backpack.  😉

At the Meister Eder Studios in Thalkirchen, Louis, Loui, Lilo and Gus walked in through the door one after another and were ready to give their all for the title.

The finalists

Loui (Instagram: loui_not_vuitton) is an indoor tomcat who nevertheless lives the outdoor lifestyle. More precisely, he is two years young, a Siberian forest cat, and has already visited 5 countries. He is carried by his cat parents in a special backpack made for cats. As we could see for ourselves, Loui loves this backpack and is always open to new things. We were impressed by his character and cheeky ways, and at the same time he relaxed straight away and was simply a truly beautiful subject. The pictures show a cheeky, curious and witty cat with a lot of character.

Our runner-up is Gus. Gus and his brother Pablo both travelled in from Vienna. Like Loui, the two ginger tomcats are used to travelling and showed their enthusiasm for it at our shoot quite clearly — everything was thoroughly investigated and commented on. Both cats came from Spain via Vienna animal shelter to their current parents — and the parents are simply happy that the two one-year-old whirlwinds go through life so cuddly and good-humoured. Their arrival at our studio alone was something — the two first explored the surrounding gardens. Incidentally, both are named after villains: Gustavo from Breaking Bad and Pablo Escobar were their namesakes 😊

Louis (yes, with an S 😉) travelled in especially from Switzerland and is known by the name "Clicker.cat". His owner works and trains with him using clicker training — and you can tell. Louis is totally open to new things, loves exploring new places and can do tricks like the "high five". He is a passionate outdoor cat and pretty fearless. It hasn't always been that easy for him though — he was found on the street in Dubai 5 years ago. Since then he has travelled half the world (Dubai, Toulouse, St Tropez, Tokyo, Düsseldorf, Mainz and more).

Lilou, a beautiful girl, is a mix of Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest cat. Despite these traits in her blood, she is petite and also very gentle in nature. At the shoot she needed a little time to warm up — but then we were finally able to see her playful and curious side! No surprise, as Lilou is only a year old. At home, by the way, she's the one who sets the tone — her "brother" follows her commands.

We were able to take beautiful and unique photos with every one of the cats. The pictures of the "Stay-at-homes" (in the pictures above: Barcadi, Fynn, Lucky and Molly) were simply great and really brought out each cat's character.

We at LucyBalu would love to declare all eight (and all the others) winners — and for us, they are!

The winner — our LucyBalu Catmodel 2022

The choice for Cat Model 2022, which featured on the cover of the entire September issue of "Geliebte Katze", fell on LOUI! 🥳

We really enjoyed the shoot day with these different cats — and are already looking forward to next year!